Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Charles Swain 1803–74

Life

LIFE’S not our own,—’t is but a loan

To be repaid;

Soon the dark Comer’s at the door,

The debt is due: the dream is o’er,—

Life’s but a shade.

Thus all decline that bloom or shine,

Both star and flower;

’T is but a little odor shed,

A light gone out, a spirit fled,

A funeral hour.

Then let us show a tranquil brow

Whate’er befalls;

That we upon life’s latest brink

May look on Death’s dark face,—and think

An angel calls.